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Islamabad: Hundreds of people protesting against daily power outages went on a rampage yesterday in Multan, burning public and private property and torching vehicles.
Police lobbed tear gas shells and made baton charges to control the mob in the major city in the Punjab province and made a number of arrests, local official said.
The violence erupted after workers of the power-loom factories took out a procession in Multan, which is in the cotton-growing region of the province.
The crowd set ablaze two offices of the Multan electric power company, a bank and about a dozen vehicles and seven motorcycles, police said.
The company said at least four of its officials were beaten and injured by the protesters. Private channels showed a company official firing into the air to scare the protesters away.
The daily wage workers employed by hundreds of power-loom units have economically suffered due to loss of work forced by power cuts.
Minister for water and power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said the new government inherited shortage of about 3,000 megawatt from the previous regime and it was doing everything possible to cope with the problem.
The electricity distribution companies have been resorting to staggered daily powers totalling eight to 10 hours and the hardship to people is likely to increase during the approaching hot summer season.
Show patience plea
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appealed to the people to show patience and restrain from violence since it would not help to overcome the crisis.
Referring to the Multan incidents, Gilani said in a statement that the government was striving to overcome on war footing the energy and wheat shortages created by the previous government.
The minister for water and power, while talking to media, said the energy situation would improve within the next six months and the problem would be resolved in a year and half.
"There will be no resort to load-shedding [power cuts] in the country in three years time," he said.
The minister disclosed that the head of the Multan electricity company had been suspended over rioting in the city.
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